Ordnance.



Sie. 539,4!3. Fatented Dec. 24, 190i. F. P. A. MGD. RGBERGE.

RDNANCE.

(Application filed Apr, 5,1901.) (En Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.A

@siriani drains PATnNT OFFICE.

FRANKN PIERCE RUBERGE AND ABIJAH MCDONALD ROBKERGE, OF NEW ORNNCE.

SESIEGEZN fox-ming' part of Letters .Patent No. 689,418, dated December24, 19.01.

Application filed April 5, 1901. sannita, 54,483. 'inumana To a/Z.wiz/ont may concern.: 1

Be it ,known that we, FRANKLIN Pinnen l Ronnnen and Antolin; Mci) oNALnROBERGE;

l citizens of the United States, residing at New,

5 York, in the connty ci New York and State? of Nenv York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Grdnance, 'ol which thefollowing is a full and complete specification, anch as will enablethose skilled in the ro art to which it appertains to make and usethesarns.

' This invention relates to that clase of guns or carin ns which arebuilt np around a ceutral li .ng or here, and particularly such as havethe central built-np section thereofl surrounded by wire wound tightlyaround the same.

. The object oi our invention is to produce a "e, and efficient piece ofordii'arscier which will withstand eccessi-,j Jins dne to the l t ik. f.er charges inereing and it is particularly the object of the inventiontoprovide effective. means for overcoming the at present serionsdisadvantage of such guns dne to' the enter jacket or casing thereof`Breaking under the expansive force of the explosion.

'With these ends in view our'invention consists, primarily, et a gun orcannon built up of a plurality et casings surrounding an interiorcentral lining or bore, the outermost of which caslngs is covered with aseries ot windings of wire, over which arsisecnred a series ofcircnrnieren :iai resiiient rings or bands corrugated iongitndinaldirection of the gan or cannon, whereby they will expand or somewhatelongate circumferentialiy under the expansive force et an explosion andwill likewise coni t after the ex plosive leffect upon the gun ceased,these .rings or bauds being surrounded by an ein terior resilient jacketwholly covering the cntire 4outer surface etv the gun and similarlylongitudinaily corrugated with corrugations seated in the cozi'ngatiensof the rings or bands,whcrcbycorr iondingly the said este rior jacket ot"flieg 'i cr cannon `will expand under the action df the explosionthereof.

The invention 'further consists in tiie'ncvel construction andarrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, foi-miur,r part of this specification, inwhich like refr` erence characters denote like parts in th'ef1`55several views, Figure 1 is a plan view of al?. cannon embodying ourinvention, partiallylf. broken away to show therinterior construeA tionin central longitudinal section. Figui? is an enlarged edge view of thecorrugated 6o exterior jacket straightened out.` Fig. 3 is an enlargedperspective View of a portion of the said exterior jacket. Fig. .4 is anenlarged transverse vertical section on the line .fc of Fig. 1, and Fig.5 is an enlarged simi- 65 lar section of a modilied form of the device.

In the practice of our' invention we first form a central lining or boreA of a length equal to the desired length of the cannon, which may beeither tapered or uniformly 7o' cylindrical exteriorl y. O n the outsideof the said lining or central cylinder are securedlongitudinallytapered. casings or sleeves B, which are of greaterthickness at the breech end than at the nozzl'c, thusbnilding up the 75former end and giving it increased strength where theA explosion takesplace. One or more of the said casings or sleeves may, however, beuniformly cylindrical or may even be reversely tapered, so that thethicker end 8o is at the nozzle in case it may be desired to` add to thestrength of that end of the cannon. These casings are placed one uponthe other .and may be shrunk upon the'interior lining or cylinder andupon-one another or may be secured in any desired manner. Exterior-1y ofthe outermostcasing or sleeve Bis wound a plurality of longitudinallayers of Wire C. This wire is of strong steel of any desiredsectionalform, and each layer is wound spirally 9o around the gun from one endthereof to the l other, the wire or spiral of the next outer layerfitting between the wires or spirals of the layer beneath it, as clearlyshown in'Fig.

l, and all of the layers abut at one end closely against the breech-headD. Upon the outside of the wire layers are then secured a number oi'resilient rings or circular bands E, which are preferably formed ofstrips of strong steel corrugated transverselyof the band,and rootherefore longitudinally of the gun,when they are in position, the endsof the said strips being welded together or otherwise connected, asdesired, to make a continuous ring. The rings or bands E are securedupon the outer most wire layer side by side longitudinally of thecannen,aml their corrugations E' aline,so as to form continuonslongitudinal corrugations. Over and upon the said rings or bands E issecured a resilient jacket or outer casing l",formed of a single pieceof strong steel longitudinally corrugated and having its ends Weldedtogether or otherwise united to form a continuous cylinder of uniformthickness and slightly tapering longitudinally. This jacket or exteriorcasing is secured upon the outside of the rings or bands E, with thecorrugations F thereof fitting in the corrugations E/ of the said rings.Both the rings and the jacket at one end lie against the breechhead D,and they may be shrunk or otherwise secu red, respectively, the ringsupon the wire layers and the jacket upon the said rings. Y

'lhe operation of our invention will be readily understood from theforegoingdescription, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, and the advantages resultant from the use thereof will bemanifest to all who are skilled in the art to which it appertains.

The gun is charged and fired in the usual manner, and the casings orsleeves I one surmounting the other, and the wire layers or bindings` Caround them, the rings or bandsE, and the jacket or exterior easing Fall receive an expansive effect d ue to the explosion. The expansion islimited directly by the casing or sleeves 1S. The wire layers orbindings render the sleeves or easings more efficient against thisexplosive tendency and add vastly to the strength of the gun. NVhen theeffect. of the explosion is received upon and by the rings Eand thejacket F, these, being corrugated in a direction longitudinal to thegun, will expand er stretch radially or transversely, so as to increasein circumference in adegree proportionate to the cap'. asive effect ofthe explosion. The rings receive the impact of the expansive tendencybefore it reaches the jacket, and to a certain slight extent the jacketwill be relieved fro'm this pre/sf sure. In the main, however,thcjacketand the rings will expand mutually or eoincidently. The ringsor bands in particular being segarate one from the other will receivetheir-regu lar impact of the explosion and will be per-y lmitted toexpand irregularly or disproportionately, so as to meet and accord withthe varied nature of the expansive effect of the explosion, which, ifreceived dircetlyon the jacket without the intervention of the saidrings or bands,weuld expose the same directly to the irregular-s' rainwhich causes the bursting of solid cylindrical jackets atpresententployed infcannon of this character. Not only is the dangerousbreaking or cracking of au ordinary ,jacket under expansion prevcnt-f bythe use of our invention, but, moreover, after the expansive effect hassubsided and as the gun cools off the rings and the jacket will easilyand naturally contract together.

\Ve do not, however, desire to be understood as limiting ourselves tothe exact d et'ails of construction or formation of parts hereindescribed and shown nor to the exact relative arrangement and positionof the elements of the construction, as the same may be varied withinthe spirit of our invention, which we conceive to be novel in its planand broad in its scope. The resilient band E and the resilient jacket Fmay, for example, advantageously be employed upon other guns or cannonsof a similar nature or upon any other ordnance or upon any other eithertubular or expansible bodies, whatever their nature.

`In the modified form shown in Fig. 5 we employ in place of the casingsor sleeves B a casing B', made of a single piece of material, one edgeof which is secured to the interior or bore A, and the sheet is rolledaround the same and upon itself to form a plurality of folds or layers.This continuous strip is of course'formed thicker at the breech end thanat the nozzle, similarly to the casings 01 sleeves B, and the inner andouter edges B2 and B3 of the said strip are tapered or gradually reducedin thickness, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, so that the compound casingformed thereby around the bore or lining will be both intericrly andext'erorly of a perfectly rounded periphery and while externally taperedwill be similar in any section thereof.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, iis- 1.A A gun or cannon formed ofan interior lining or bore, a plurality of casingssurrounding the sameand a plurality of layers of wire wound circumferentially around thesame longitudinally of the gun, and a resilient outer jacketlongitudinally c0rrugated,where by it is radially or transverselyexpansible.

2. A gun or cannon comprising anv interior lining or bore providedcxteriorly with a plurality of'casi-ngs or bindings of the characterdescribed and a resilient outer jacket longitudinally corrugated wherebyit is radially or transversely expansible.

'A gun or cannon comprising an interior lining or bore providedexteriorly with a plurality of casings or bindings of the characterdescribed, and a plurality of rings or bands closely surrounding thesaid casings and formed of resilient metal corrugated in a directionlongitudinal of the gun whereby they are radially or transverselyexpansiblo.

ff. A resilient binding ring or band for cannon or other articlescomprising a perinanently-secured strip of resilient metal corrugatedacross the width thereof whereby it is ulially or transverselyexpansible or capable of enlarging in its effective circumference underradial interior pressure.

5. A gun or cannon provided with a series IOC IIO

of resilient binding rings -orbands surrounding the body of the cannoncircumferentially and placed side byvside' longitudinally of the gun andcorrugated transversely of the said bauds or longitudinally of the gun,and an outer jacket formed of resilient metal longitudinally corrugatedwhereby the said rings and the said jacket are radially or transverselyv expansible. l

6. A gun or cannon comprising an interior lining or bore providedexteriorly with a plurality of. superposed casingsg'a plurality ofsuperposedlayers of wire wound around the said casings, a series ofresilient binding rings or bands surrounding the said wirebindingcircumferentially and corrugated trans.

versely of the said bands or longitudinally-of the gun, andan outerjacket formed of resilient metal longitudinally corrugated, whereby thesaid rings and the said jacket are radially nally of the gunwherebytheir corrugations aline, and an exterior jacket formed ofasheetof resilient metal longitudinally corrugated.

8. 'I he combination with a gun or cannon or other body subject toradial expansiomof a binding ring or bandpermanently connect:

ed therewith and Llongitudinally immovable thereon, and comprising `anendless stripof resilient metal corrugated laterally whereby it isradially or transversely expansible and will lenlarge in its leffectivecircumference when the thereby-confined body expands under radialinterior pressure, and will contract therewith.

9. The combinationwith a gun or cannon or other body subject to radialexpansion, of

a plurality ot' bindingmings or bands sur-- rounding the same 'atdiferent points longitudinallythereof and permanentlyconnected, thereto-and Ilongitudinally immovable thereon, and comprising each a stripo'fresilientv etal corrugated across' the width thereof whereby it isradially or'transversely expansible, and will enlarge in its effectivecircumference when the said body expands under ra dial interior pressureand will contract therewith; the corrugations of the several ringsalining longitudinally of the bodybne'ath.l

In. testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention we havesigned our names, in presence of the subscribing witnesses, this 4th dayof April, 1901.

vFRANKLIN PIERCE ROBERGE..

ABIJAH MCDONALD RBERGE.

Witnesses: F. A. STEWART, F. F. TELLER.

